WHITEWATER — The city of Whitewater has four active housing projects and more on the way.
Mason Becker, its new economic development director, updated the common council on housing projects at its meeting on Tuesday.
The increased focus comes amid a push to bump up the city’s housing stock with hopes of attracting and retaining residents and businesses
The four active housing projects are Park Crest at Tower Hill Pass and Stonefield Lane, Meadowview at Meadowview Court; Waters Edge South at Parkside Drive and Moraine View on South Moraine View Parkway.
Park Crest is single- family housing, and there are three homes for sale. Meadowview is zero-lot line duplexes. Waters Edge has eight duplexes, and Moraine View has broken ground on its first two apartment buildings, which will have 32 units. There are 128 total units planned.
Additionally, Pewaukee-based Bielinski Homes recently presented a concept for review for the Hale Farm subdivision, which would be for 99 single-family homes on the city’s west side.
Brookfield-based Pre/3 is also expected to soon bring forward a 60-unit apartment project for review.
And the city recently sold two parcels to Stonehaven Development at 1222 and 1242 E. Bluff Road for modular homes, which are are built off-site in sections in a facility and then transported to a site to be assembled
Housing shortage
A shortage of housing stock has been identified in Whitewater, Becker told the council.
At the end of the Great Recession, Whitewater, like many communities, saw the housing development slow to a crawl, Becker said.
“You didn’t have a lot going on,” Becker said, referring to that as “economic reality.” “But the last couple years, you’ve been able to open the faucet a little bit, and you do have some things happening.”
There is no priority list for which subdivision should go up first, and the city is not prioritizing multi-family housing over single-family housing, City Manager John Weidl told The 69.
“Particular timing of a project isn’t necessarily indicative of the strategy. Residential subdivisions take far longer to put together. The amount of infrastructure is not only larger, as in millions — $6, 7, 8, 9 million for the infrastructure of a residential subdivision. The grant planning process takes longer. The number of parties involved is usually larger,” Weidl said.
Affordability
Affordability remains a concern. The average home price in the city in July of this year was $321,000, up from $230,000 in July 2021.
“I think when you’re talking about new construction, you’re going to be even higher, which is a reality that we are trying to address,” Becker said.
Housing needs are changing, Becker said. People are living longer, there are more households made up of young people delaying marriage and “housing is the new workforce.”
“I really do believe that if you want to continue to attract new jobs to your community, you need to continue growing your housing stock. There’s a saying: ‘Restaurants and retail follow rooftops.’ These companies today have access to the data. They follow the trends, and they are going to look at your growth line as a community,” Becker said. “If you’re not building new housing, if you’re not growing, they’re not going to tend to want to build new construction here in Whitewater.”
Becker also looked at the city’s growing population, which stands at 15,646 residents for 2025, according to his presentation. That is up from 14,889 in 2020, 14,390 in 2010 and 13,437 in 2000.
He noted the largest incoming freshmen class at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater since 2016 has enrolled this semester, about 12,000 students. Of those, about 11,300 are enrolled at the Whitewater campus, with the rest enrolled at the UW-Whitewater at Rock County campus in Janesville.
“That’s something to be proud of. You have amenities and a quality of life to offer, and of course you have UW-Whitewater, which is an attractor as well,” Becker said.
The goal is to keep more of those students in the city post-graduation, city officials said.
Becker told the council that he and Weidl will be working on a housing proposal to bring to the city’s community development authority and the council in October. He did not offer further specifics.
“One of my goals working here with the CDA here in Whitewater is to get bigger and bolder with some of the things we are doing with supporting our businesses but also housing in the community,” Becker told The 69.
The city previously had a program in place to rehabilitate homes through a community development block grant. Federal funding for that was eliminated this year.
Becker said the city is exploring whether other sources of funds could allow the program to be reactivated.
Weidl called housing the “great struggle” of this time. He The 69 that “reinvigorating and renewing our existing single-family housing stock is a priority and will continue to be a priority.”
